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PEMBROKE, N.C. – The Kutztown University softball team won both of its games on Saturday and won three of four over the weekend, as a 5-2 win over Concord and an 8-3 win over Winston-Salem State concluded the UNC Pembroke Invitational for the Golden Bears.
 
Kutztown (3-1) averaged more than seven runs per game in its season-opening tournament. It hit .339 as a team with a .979 fielding percentage, both of which are increases from last year's final season numbers. The weekend was also a positive sign compared to last season, when KU opened 1-3 in North Carolina.
 
Senior Colleen Smith and freshman Asja Saito were named to the All-Tournament Team. Saito started all four games for KU at second base and hit .462. Four of her six hits went for extra bases with three doubles and her first career home run. Smith also hit .462 with six hits. She scored a team-high six runs with two doubles and a home run. Both Golden Bears walked twice over the weekend and did not commit an error in the field.
 
The Golden Bears scored five runs in the fourth inning in a 5-2 win over Concord in Saturday's opener. KU opened the inning with three straight singles from Gabby Tareila, Smith (bunt) and Bridget Newman to load the bases with no outs.
 
Danielle Sienko hit a two-run single through the left side, and Sam Fraser followed by putting the ball in play to drive in the run for a 3-0 lead for KU with one out in the inning. A throwing error by the Concord third baseman extended the inning for KU's fourth run, as a Blayse Cholish two-out RBI single capped the five-run inning.
 
Concord answered with two runs in the fifth on back-to-back RBI hits, but it was all KU pitcher Dominique Ficara would allow. The senior threw her first complete game of the season and the 45th of her career to move her into sixth all-time in KU history.
 
KU notched seven hits, spread among six players in the opener.
 
Cholish led KU in the second game against Winston-Salem State with a 4-for-5 performance from the leadoff position. She drove in two runs with RBI singles in the second and seventh innings.
 
Saito belted her first career home run with a solo shot in the second inning. Cholish's first RBI hit gave KU a 2-0 lead through two. The Rams answered with three runs in the bottom half of the second, two off a triple and one off a KU error.
 
From there, the KU defense held its ground and the offense kept on rolling. Tareila hit a two-run single in the fourth to give KU a 4-3 lead.
 
Sienko and Smith each homered in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 7-3, as Cholish's final RBI rounded out the scoring in the seventh inning in an 8-3 win. Along with Cholish's four hits, Saito and Rachel Lawes each had multi-hit games with two apiece.
 
Newman started her first game of the season in the circle. She only lasted 1.2 innings, but was relieved by Savannah Nierintz in the second, who did not allow a run for the remainder of the game. Nierintz threw 5.1 scoreless innings and allowed five hits with five strikeouts and one walk. She moves to 2-0 on the year.
 
The Golden Bears get back to indoor practice in Kutztown until they return to action in Tennessee on Feb. 20-21 at the Pioneer Classic.